Resources

Guardianship Tools and Resources

• Guardianship Decision Tree: Use this tool, created by MN DHS, WINGS, and CESDM, to help inform if guardianship is the most appropriate intervention for an individual and understand other options available.
• NEW! Guardianship and Conservatorship Complaint Process: Individuals can now report complaints or concerns if they think that a court-appointed guardian or conservator is not acting in the best interest of the person subject to guardianship or conservatorship. They can submit their complaint in one of these 3 ways:
  • Click “Review Process” on the Conservatorship and Guardianship Complaint Process page,
  • Call the complaint hotline at 651-215-0032, or
  • Email SCAOExaminer@courts.state.mn.us.
• For more information about this new complaint process, contact the Judicial Branch’s Audit Manager, Jamie Majerus, at jamie.majerus@courts.state.mn.us or the new Examiner who will investigate guardianship/conservatorship complaints, Mark Mestad, at SCAOExaminer@courts.state.mn.us.

• To better understand the process that occurs following a complaint of guardianship or conservatorship abuses in MN, see The Judicial Response Protocol for Guardianship and Conservatorship Abuses.
• The MN Gov Council on Developmental Disabilities produced a series of 4 videos featuring Bud Rosenfield, Ombusdman, explaining Supported Decision-Making and other Guardianship terms.

WINGS MN Recorded Presentations and Webinars

• WINGS MN Supported Decision Making and Guardianship: Which One is Right for Me? (November 2022)
• Guardianship & Supported Decision Making Explained: Understanding or explaining guardianship and supported decision making can be challenging. The Center for Excellence in Supported Decision Making and Estate & Elder Law Services at Volunteers of America MN, with funding from the MN Board on Aging, has created brief white-board animation videos to help explain these complex concepts.
• Rethinking Guardianship for Transition Age Youth: The Promise of Supported Decision Making, PACER Inspiring Possibilities Conference, 10/2021

Organizations of Interest

• The Administration of Community Living’s (ACL) Center on Youth Voice, Youth Choice (CYVYC) provides resources, research, and other tools to support people to explore alternatives to guardianship. This website has more details about alternatives to guardianship in each state, documents that explain guardianship, and stories of youth who are pursuing alternatives to guardianship.
• The American Bar Association’s Commission on Law and Aging, a 2016 ACL grantee, establishes additional state WINGS groups.
• Minnesota Association for Guardianship and Conservatorship (MAGiC) is a membership organization of guardians and conservators and other professionals who work with guardians, conservators, and the people who have guardians/conservators.  MAGiC has also published a Code of Ethics, Bill of Rights, and Standards of Practice for professional guardians and conservators, as well as Standards for other fiduciaries, including Power of Attorney, Representative Payee, and Trusts.
• National Guardianship Association is a membership organization of guardians throughout the U.S.  NGA recently published a position statement in support of Supported Decision Making.
• Center for Guardianship Certification lists criteria for certified guardians, search for certified guardians, and information about filing a complaint against a certified guardian.
• The National Guardianship Network sponsored the 2011 Third National Guardianship Summit, which developed the WINGS model. With funding from the State Justice Institute (SJI), NGN selected Minnesota to establish a WINGS chapter in 2015.
• Learn more about WINGS efforts throughout the US at National Guardianship Network (NGN) Working Interdisciplinary Network of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS).
• Minnesota Elder Justice Center’s video library has many resources about guardianship and supported decision making. Videos of note include:
• Supported Decision Making & Guardianship: Which One is Right for Me? 12/1/2022
• Revocation, Resignation, Expiration: The End of a Decision-Making Relationship, 11/7/2022
• Concepts in Capacity: An Introduction, 11/14/22
• Supported Decision Making Q & A, 9/1/22
• Supported Decision Making Q&A, 3/24/22

Maltreatment Information and Resources

• Contact MN Adult Abuse Reporting Center (MAARC) to report suspected maltreatment of a vulnerable adult, 24 hours per day/seven days a week:  1-844-880-1574.
• Vulnerable Adult statute defines maltreatment of vulnerable adults (abuse, financial exploitation, neglect), mandated reporters and reporting maltreatment requirements.

COVID-19 Resources

• NCLER’s Frequently Asked Questions: LTSS Visitation Rights & COVID-19 has been updated to include information on the most recent guidance from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on visitation rights of nursing facility residents.
  For COVID-19 resources as well as past training materials, please visit the NCLER website.
• Article – “What are Social Security Representative Payees” Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates: (click on the subsection: Representative Payees).

Supported Decision Making (SDM) Resources and Tools

• The National Resource Center for Supported Decision-Making is a rich source of information about supported decision making efforts throughout the United States, has training and information videos, suggested SDM forms, and more.
• MN DHS has published a series of videos on Supported Decision Making by Jonathan Martinis; public and professional audiences are welcome to incorporate these into their own training events.
• The Arc and the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities has published a joint position statement on supported decision making.
• Supported Decision Making With People at the Margins of Autonomy: This is a recent article (2020) arguing in support of Supported Decision Making.
• BoggsCast Podcast: Episode 10: Supported Decision-Making with Jonathan Martinis, Esq., JD: Jonathan Martinis, Esq, JD, Senior Director for Law and Policy in the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, discusses supported decision-making.
• The American Bar Association, with support from the National Resource Center on Supported Decision Making has developed the PRACTICAL TOOL, a helpful guide to assist in addressing a person’s need for assistance in decision making.

Statutes & Legal Resources

• Minnesota’s Public Guardianship law is Statute 252A Developmental Disability Protection.
• Minnesota’s private guardianship/conservatorship law is found in Article 5 of the Uniform Probate Code, Protection of Persons Under Disability and Their Property, 524.5-101 – 524.5-903.
• Minnesota Judicial Branch provides, among other relevant information about guardianship and conservatorship:  Guardianship/Conservatorship forms and a detailed informational Guardianship Manual, as well as Guardianship/Conservatorship Case Status and hosts Minnesota’s Guardianship/Conservatorship Registry.
• Lawhelp MN offers many resources including fillable forms.
• The Minnesota Attorney General publishes Probate and Planning, an overview which includes health care directives, power of attorney, guardianship, and conservatorship.
• MN Department of Human Services has helpful information about identifying and reporting suspected cases of maltreatment.
• Harris Case is an important case decision from the Minnesota Court of Appeals, regarding harassment restraining orders on behalf of a person subject to guardianship and the right of the person to visitation with others of their choice.